


Run Along Home

by ohjustdisarmalready



Series: The Road Goes On [4]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Cinnamon Roll Papyrus (Undertale), Found Family, Frisk (Undertale) Is a Sweetheart, Gen, Gender-Neutral Frisk (Undertale), Papyrus (Undertale) Needs a Hug, Underfell Frisk (Undertale), Underswap Papyrus (Undertale), Underswap Papyrus is not aware of resets, you'll get more out of this if you read whither then ch 4 first but don't let me tell you what to do
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-15
Updated: 2020-11-15
Packaged: 2021-03-09 19:28:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,291
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27581393
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ohjustdisarmalready/pseuds/ohjustdisarmalready
Summary: By request: Underswap Papyrus's battle with Frisk. Exactly how did they come to be good friends?
Relationships: Frisk & Papyrus (Undertale)
Series: The Road Goes On [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1790866
Comments: 4
Kudos: 21





	Run Along Home

**Author's Note:**

> I realized that i responded to this request by saying "this is not a Papyrus-Sans-Frisk character study" when I meant "this is NOW a Papyrus-Sans-Frisk character study" & that is a shame i will carry to the grave
> 
>  **if you haven't read Whither then:**  
>  The premise: Underfell Frisk got drop kicked out of Underfell by Sans after being more or less adopted by the skeleton brothers. They landed in Underswap with an apparently permanent injury from the conflict; a bone attack that's lodged in their SOUL. This is their battle with Underswap Papyrus, who they call Cozy Papyrus.

Frisk walks through the strategically-placed blizzard between Snowdin and Waterfall, eyes and ears peeled for the sight or sound of any presence.

They’ve rested in the Snowed Inn, so they’re at their new max HP. The Snowed Inn is a safe zone in the real world; the bunny in charge can and will kill anyone who stirs up a fuss in her building. They figure that probably means it’s safe in Wonderland, too. And they knew they’d need to be in top form for the FIGHT with Papyrus.

They’re not sure what about this encounter will change in Wonderland. So far, Cozy Papyrus’s traps have been sort of like Real Papyrus’s, just…worse. His spikes don’t impale Frisk unexpectedly. They act more like mild hazards than deadly weapons. One of his traps is just a crossword puzzle, with no deadly threat if they get it wrong and no pen to solve it with. At first, his bridge gauntlet seemed like it might be something, but he got nervous and shooed it away when Frisk tried to give it a shot.

Frisk has met plenty of monsters who are afraid of humans, but they’ve never met a monster who seems so afraid of bloodshed.

Well… ‘afraid’ doesn’t feel like the right word, exactly, but Frisk isn’t sure how else to put it. Reluctant? Guilty? Stressed out? He’s like a really soft Whimsum.

Now, though, they’ve gotten past all that. Cozy Papyrus is about to get some LOVE.

Frisk remembers how difficult it was to get past Real Papyrus. He killed them directly less than anyone else, because he wanted to bring their SOUL to the King safely and not risk it shattering; but that’s not to say he went easy on them. A couple of times they chose to finish off their last HP themself so they could try the fight again with all their healing items and having rested at the Inn, which helped them learn how to survive long enough to make friends with him, but it took a lot of tries.

Frisk is more sensible about dying now than they were back then; they wasted a lot of time being scared of LOADing. This time, they know they’ll have to die a few times to Cozy Papyrus to learn his attack patterns, and that’s fine. It doesn’t hurt as much if they lean in to it. Once they learn enough to make it through a few of Cozy Papyrus’s turns, they’ll see about wearing him down, and then befriending him.

That means that this run is gonna be the first of many, remembered only when Frisk looks back to remember how clumsy they were…are. Will be. Are?

Grammar is hard when the things they’re doing are going to have never happened soon enough. It’s even worse when they’re going to have done different things at the same time as they’re going to not have done what they’re about to do.

What matters is that this is the first of several tries, so Frisk is planning on triggering his ambush so they’ll know what to dodge next time. Thus, walking blindly through a blizzard that they know an enemy is waiting in. Shouldn’t they be running into a bone attack by now?

Well, besides, ah. The one that they are currently running into. Real Sans’s last bone attack remains lodged in their SOUL, lowering their HP, apparently permanently, to 14/20. That’s not only painful, but it’s going to make this battle harder than it needs to be.

Oh, no time to worry about it now—Cozy Papyrus’s silhouette is slouching out of the snow. He flicks something off to the side. Frisk keeps their eyes open. They’ll need to know where the attack that kills them first comes from in order to dodge it next time.

“human,” says Cozy Papyrus.

Frisk waves. There’s no reason to be unfriendly.

“you seem pretty alright,” says Cozy Papyrus. “you were a pretty good sport about the puzzles and all. overall i’d say you’re, uh, pretty neat.”

Frisk bounces on their toes. Cozy Papyrus is mostly in view now, with the snow twirling around him. In a clear moment, they’re pretty sure he’s got a telltale ash smudge from pinching out his cigarette on his first two fingers, but then the snow swirls again and he’s a bit too far away to be certain.

“i just, y’know, i really can’t let a human just walk through snowdin. that’s sans’s job on the line, my potential job…even though you’re a cool human and probably a pretty good friend, not that i wonder what it’s like to have good friends but i feel like you could be one, um, where was i?” His silhouette is beginning to look nervous again. Cozy Papyrus looks nervous a lot.

Frisk helpfully makes a gesture like they’re stabbing at their chest, and then forms a little heart with their hands.

“…what? no, that’s—you’re a morbid little kid, you know that?”

Frisk shrugs. They don’t know what that word means.

“look, i don’t really wanna fight you, or anything. but, uh, you know the spiel with the whole, seven souls, barrier, thing?” he asks. Frisk nods. “yeah. so, we’ve got six souls right now—uh, is that—is that…uh, please don’t be scared.”

Frisk isn’t particularly scared…they would say they’re a reasonable amount of scared, given that Cozy Papyrus is about to kill them. Sort of a tickle of adrenaline that makes their heart throb painfully, but it isn’t paralyzing. They can still breathe easy around the tension in their shoulders.

“anyway. don’t think too hard about how we got those other souls. it’s, uh, don’t worry about it.”

With…murder? Is there another way?

Surely Cozy Papyrus doesn’t think they’re too stupid to put that one together, right?

“so if you know about the barrier…you know we only need one more soul to bring it down, right?” Cozy Papyrus’s voice perks up a touch. He sounds sort of hopeful.

Frisk braces themself and squints into the swirling snow.

“with your soul working together with the other six, we can take the barrier down. we can get out. everyone will be happy. and, you must have something to go home to, too, right?” Cozy Papyrus crunches in the snow—one step forward.

Frisk shakes their head, shivers. They don’t think it would be a good idea to go home. Sans will be right there to kick them back out again, he said. He’ll be waiting.

“oh. well, you can come with us, then. sans would probably make you a bunk bed or something,” Cozy Papyrus says. He takes one more step.

…Frisk is beginning to think he doesn’t understand how this whole “Barrier” thing works.

Seeming to sense their hesitance, Cozy Papyrus adds, “…or not. you know, up to you, random child that i met three days ago. ugh, that sounded way less creepy in my head.”

Crunch. They can see him clearly, now, one hand out of his hoodie pocket and almost reaching towards them.

“let’s not make this hard, huh, human? just come with me, undyne’ll bring you to the queen, she can teach you how to use your soul to take down the barrier. everyone’s happy,” he says.

Frisk shakes their head. They want to get to the castle, yes, but…this approach is only gonna get them dumped back at their last SAVE point when the Queen or Alphys or Cozy Papyrus kills them.

It’s just like in the real world—they have to walk through it themself. They have to meet and know every monster before they can hope to SAVE anyone. Giving up their SOUL and hoping things somehow work out on their own when they never have before isn’t good enough. Not for their friends. Not for their family.

“…you really wanna do this the hard way?” Cozy Papyrus sighs.

Frisk nods. They’re sorry to make Cozy Papyrus FIGHT them, but they’re not going to lie down and die. Not forever-die, anyway.

“ok.” He sounds disappointed. “here goes.”

Frisk feels the familiar wave of healing magic wash over them as the FIGHT starts—Cozy Papyrus is making sure it’s a fair battle, or at least he’s trying to. Their SOUL throbs and resists healing. They choose mercy for their first turn.

Looking a little disconcerted by his attempt to heal them, Cozy Papyrus sends a lazy wave of bone attacks their direction. He’s not trying to kill them very hard…he must be getting a feel for them first.

Frisk doesn’t bother to check him—his text would probably just say what it does in the real world. _Trying to try to kill you._ Instead, they blow him a kiss.

“uh. i’m getting mixed messages here,” Cozy Papyrus says. He sends another wave of bones, this one a little bit harder to dodge, but not by much.

Frisk takes their turn to waggle their brows. Papyrus looks flustered.

Out of sheer self-defense, Cozy Papyrus sends his bones a little more densely, with an un-dodge-able blue bone scrolling towards them. Frisk has a moment to brace themself before the friendly _ping!_ and dragging weight drop on them.

In front of them, their SOUL is blue—well, mostly.

“oh, wow. humans really do have strong souls. lookit that, you’ve kept a little of it red,” Cozy Papyrus says, forgetting to be awkward for a moment.

From Frisk’s side of the battle, the blade of the bone attack in their SOUL is sticking out, glaringly red against the now-blue backdrop. But peeking over it to see Papyrus’s view, the hilt of the bone attack and the angle it’s imbedded at make it look sort of like the center of their SOUL is still red.

Of course, Cozy Papyrus takes this moment of inattention to send a sneaky attack hurtling in from behind them and doing a solid 4 HP of damage. That’s pretty much what Frisk deserves for letting him distract them. In the real world, Papyrus would have cuffed them over the head and talked about vigilance.

Frisk should maybe stop trying to flirt, since it seems to make Cozy Papyrus more confused than anything…then again, it flustered Real Papyrus at first, too. They try gesturing between him and them and giving him a Look. _Come here often?_

Papyrus is leaning away.

“oh, boy. this is weird and you’re like twelve. please just do, like, literally anything else. …is this harassment?” Cozy Papyrus shifts back and forth between his feet, less like he’s ready to fight and more like he’s trying to squirm out of the conversation.

Oh, that wasn’t what they wanted…Cozy Papyrus isn’t confident like Real Papyrus is, taking every comment and gesture as the admiration he’s owed. He mostly doesn’t look like he knows what to do. Oh, no, this is harassment.

Frisk holds their hands out to _soothe_ , which seems to have replaced ‘insult’ on their list of acts. They consider trying to communicate that they’re probably eleven again, actually, and not twelve; but they think that that wouldn’t really help.

“ok, um. can you just let me capture you? i really want to do this right,” Cozy Papyrus says. Another wave of bones comes, evenly spaced and rolling in gentle hills that Frisk hops over.

Frisk soothes again.

“it’s just, if i let you pass, then…then you’ll leave, and i’ll always be the guy who let the human go and everyone will actually hate me. i mean, sans wouldn’t. obviously. but. sans is pretty cool, but i’d like to have other friends some day, you know…?”

The next wave of bones comes from above and below, forcing Frisk to control the height of their jumps, and some come sneaking in from behind them. One hits them dead on—4 HP down. They’re at half, now. Or, 10/20, at least.

Frisk smiles as warmly as they can to Cozy Papyrus, trying to communicate hug-feelings without the actual hug. Papyrus shifts uncertainly.

His next attack almost isn’t a bone attack, and he spends a minute correcting his mistake before sending out another round of bones, slightly quicker and harder to dodge.

“i just, i don’t want this to be just another thing i screw up,” he says. “i wanna…i wanna be somebody some day. i want everyone to like me. if i can get the last soul…undyne will be proud of me. people won’t think i’m weird anymore. sans will…be pretty much the same, but…at least i feel like i deserve it, right? i won’t have to feel like i’m just, here ‘cause i’m related to sans and if i weren’t then no one would want to talk to me.”

The waves are harder to dodge—they’re getting more elaborate. Frisk takes another 4 HP of damage. They chomp on a cinnamon bunny decisively.

Papyrus keeps talking without seeming to notice.

“what i’ve realized is…i’ve never really done anything right. or at all, mostly. i don’t have…friends, or a job, or any hobbies i’m really good at, or…or anything, really. what am i even doing with my life?” His voice is hoarse like Real Papyrus’s, but he’s looking lost like Real Papyrus never would.

“if i could just once do something right, just anything, i could escape that. i could be the kind of person people depend on, you know? i could be someone people admire. i wanna be worth someone’s time.”

Frisk risks a glance down at their SOUL to check if their heart is actually breaking for him.

They get hit with three consecutive attacks and it’s a near thing. They’re down to their last 2 HP. The smart thing to do would be to eat something again, but—this is only their first try, right? They can make stupid mistakes. It doesn’t count if no one is going to remember it.

Frisk soothes again, desperately hoping it’ll make that look go away. Papyrus isn’t supposed to be miserable—not ever. He only ever looks like that when Sans and him fight really badly and Sans storms off to disappear.

Papyrus is supposed to be big and strong and always know what to do—sometimes he’s wrong, but he always knows something. He’s always driven and he never stops, not even for family. If Frisk or Sans is in his way, he’ll pick them up and keep going. Papyrus can keep anyone going. Even the most hopeless and bitter monster looks alive when Frisk’s brother enters the room.

Seeing him like this feels wrong—like seeing your parents cry, Frisk thinks. Like seeing the miserably guilty lab entries from cruel, brilliant Alphys. Like watching videotapes of someone else’s tragedy but feeling like it’s your very best friend, recorded some time before you ever knew them; before they were who they are now.

They want him to be happy. Frisk soothes.

Papyrus avoids eye contact, and the time between turns drags on. He huffs a sigh.

“but…if i get all that, and i do get to be everybody’s hero for capturing a human…but i get it by betraying my friend…then i didn’t really do it right, did i?” he asks. “if i wanna be the kind of person that’s worth being friends with…then i guess i should start by being a good friend to the people i already have. and not dragging them to the queen who’s killed all of their predecessors. i don’t think they need to kill you, but. i don’t really think they would let you go.”

The bone attacks he sends are weak and peter out as he speaks, ending in tiny babybones training attacks that would barely sting if they hit Frisk in the eye.

Frisk scarfs down another cinnamon bunny, grinning at him as he looks slightly less miserable. They knew he could do it!

“ok, kid. if you get through one more round, you win, i’ll let you go. i’m not gonna use my special attack ‘cause i think vaporizing you wouldn’t be a good step in being friends, but how’s about one more for the road? time for a completely normal attack,” Papyrus says, smiling back at them.

He looks somehow more solid now, less like he’s waiting to flinch and more like—well, a little like his brother, which Frisk isn’t sure how they feel about. But Sans or no Sans, he looks happy, and that’s what they want more than anything. It’s what Papyrus deserves, so much.

Papyrus chuckles “nyeh-heh-heh” as a huge array of bones forms in front of Frisk, making patterns and they’re pretty sure there’s a motorcycle at some point? Frisk jumps above and around them all, feeling their SOUL tugging them to impossible heights and gently guiding them around to clear paths. They giggle as they’re suspended for a moment of flight above a whole forest of bones, before being set lightly on their feet. Papyrus’s turn ends.

His name is yellow, and Frisk chooses mercy in a heartbeat. They watch the FIGHT disappear.

Cozy Papyrus laughs sheepishly, rubbing at the back of his neck and kicking at the ground as they approach him again.

“well, that was kinda awkward…sorry it got kinda heavy. i, uh, i dunno why i said all that stuff. i don’t usually talk about my deepest insecurities when i’m hanging out. you’re really easy to talk to, you know that?” He looks embarrassed.

“anyway, uh. keep goin’ east if you want to get to waterfall. the barrier’s a pretty long way past that, but…i’m sure you can make it, if you wanna go. you seem pretty resourceful.” Cozy Papyrus dares to meet their eyes—they assume. It’s a little hard to tell without any kind of pupil to look at. Real Papyrus usually makes it clear what he’s looking at by also pointing a weapon at it.

“and if you wanted to hang out maybe some time that would be cool with me, i would like that,” Cozy Papyrus blurts. “i mean. if you wanted to be friends. after i…tried to capture you…and made you do horrible puzzles in a cave full of scary…ok don’t answer that i’m gonna go bye.”

Before they can stop him, he’s rapidly retreating right past him in the direction of his house. Little puffs of snow like road dust mark his speedy passage. Snow in Wonderland is softer than it is at home.

Sans in this world is…they don’t really want to see him. It’s upsetting to look at him and Frisk doesn’t really know how to feel. Cozy Papyrus is also a little jarring, because he’s just not the same as they’re used to him being. But that doesn’t mean he’s bad. It doesn’t mean he’s not their brother or that they don’t love him. He’s just nervous. Frisk understands being nervous.

He didn’t kill them even once. He barely came close.

Frisk really is a world away from home.

Their brother is still the good, caring person they know he is, though, and he still wants to be their friend, and he said they can come home again to visit him. It’s different, but…it doesn’t have to be bad. Frisk can love this Papyrus like they love Real Papyrus and it’s okay. The sky won’t fall on them—or if it does, it won’t matter, because they’re really far underground and the sky can’t reach them here. Or something.

Frisk turns decisively back to Snowdin. They’re not gonna stop moving forward, but for today—today is just for Papyrus. They’re gonna go home to their brother.

**Author's Note:**

> This is part of my celebration for Whither Then hitting 100k :) it's way past the series's 100k words and just before the main story's 100k, but uh. don't worry about it. why are you worrying about it? stop that. comment instead, that's way more fun.


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